Fixing up a '71 Grand Safari

That's a bummer.

 

I've never owned a proper DA before. I borrowed one once when I was doing bodywork on the '71 station wagon, but it broke and I had to repair it and found out I could have bought one for almost the cost of what I had to pay to fix the old one I borrowed. Compared two the 3 years and 2 broken arms it would have taken me to sand down the mound of resin I had built up the DA knocked it out handily, after I picked up another fiberglass repair kit and patched the final hole. I started with 80 grit and worked my way up.


My initial plan was to put body filler over the repair and repaint the entire heater box satin black. As I stated before, I don't like the look of this but it seemed to be the only option given how many repairs I had in the box, but after looking at it for a while I realized that all the repairs will be almost entirely hidden. The vacuum canister bolts directly over the highest repair. The only one that might show would be the larger one to the furthest right and I'm pretty sure that it will be mostly hidden, if not entirely, by the passenger side head. This would allow me to keep the original texture and color of the heater box on the remainder of parts of the heater box that will be visible. I sanded further and tested an area of clear coat and thought the results were preferable to a solid painted box so I sanded the entire box and applied a few layers of clear coat.


I let the cardboard stay too long on the backside of the holes and it ended up sticking to the back of the box. I had to sand this off so it wouldn't catch on fire inside the heater box.


The top of the heater box I got from the parts car had one cracked area where someone had over-tightened the bolt. When held it up to a light I could see daylight through the cracks so I filled it with JB Weld, pushing the product deep into the cracks until it came through on the other side.


Then I sanded the surface smooth because this area will be sealed with the gasket against the firewall.


I left the topside un-sanded to leave more material in place. This area is hidden under a mesh screen which is also hidden under the hood, so I prefer the safety of sealing the leak to a perfectly sanded finished product.


I used Napa butyl tape Part# 4195 for the heater box to firewall and between the top and bottom half of the heater box, though I will use much less between those two halves than I did last time, and I use the 3M "Windo-Weld" Part# 08609 to seal the top of the heater box to the cowl and a few seams where the the parts of the lower heater box bolt together. This is the same Windo-Weld I used last time but my old tube had dried up. I'm hoping I can keep it sealed this time because this tube is expensive. I really like the Windo-Weld because it seal great, goes on nicely, looks nice when smoothed just like caulk and is very easy to remove without damaging anything if need be.


I sealed all the areas where the pieces of the lower heater box bolt together with Windo-Weld. These areas will receive a second coating when it is finally sealed against the firewall.





My original plan was to replace the rubber heater box gasket with butyl tape, but the gasket was so thick and came off in such good shape I decided to reuse it along with the butyl tape. I ran a bead of butyl tape around the sealing surfaces of the heater box and installed the gasket, pushing it tight into place to fully seat the butyl tape. When it's time to install the heater box I will run another bead between the gasket and the firewall.


I removed all of the old unnecessary wires from the passenger side harness, most of which included the wires for the old compressor and the original passenger side port for the antiquated diagnostic system.


I'll re-route and re-loop the wires once I get them run back through the heater box. Judging by the way it came out, I'm not looking forward to getting that firewall gasket back in place. Once everything is routed the way I want I'll put black tape over it.

 

I feel for ya! I picked up a '67 Ford F250 4x4 about 20 years ago. It was fun to romp around in, but the stereo kept cutting out. One day I decided to look into it and what a rats nest that turned out to be. All the wires that were all tightly bundled and tied up everywhere was just for show. There was so much crap running this way and that, spliced, cut, re-spliced, etc.. An hour or so later, I had the garbage can next to it and started yanking every inch of wire out of the truck. Over the next couple of weeks, I made a whole new harness, installed a bigger (non-bastardized) fuse box and rewired the whole thing.

 

Sometimes, the stupid do that because they're both stupid and cheap.

 

Once again, the pictures cannot do justice to the amount of time and work that went into the progress made below. It was all very tedious and time consuming.



I ran another bead of caulk strip on the backside of the rubber gasket. Getting the box to fit back in place around all the obstacles takes a lot of practice.





This is the blend door rod for the hot and cold air. The shop manual says that this is supposed to self adjust by putting the threaded rod in the nylon clip and then moving the temperature selector from hot to cold and it will allow the nylon clip to slide over the threads until it auto-adjusts. Because these old plastic parts are get brittle with age I found where the rod should be located through trial and error, popped it into place and then marked its location with a marker for future reference.





I hadn't taken a picture of how this vacuum hose retainer clip fit because I thought it would be obvious how it went back on. It turns out it wasn't that obvious to me and I had trouble trying to figure out how to get it back on. It seems pretty simple looking at it now.





The picture below, before the windo-weld was applied, shows how the top of the fiberglass box is warped. I ran a liberal amount of windo-weld over this area like I had done before. This time of year Saturday is the only day I have to work on the car in the daylight. I used windo-weld to seal around the entire box. That day it decided to rain so I had to throw tarps over the entire car and work under them, holding them up with my head and having shop lights underneath so I could see. It was far from optimal, but I was finally able to get it completely sealed. Unfortunately, the windo-weld tube had hardened from the previous days work and wouldn't work in the caulk gun anymore. The caulk gun allows for a much easier application of the sealer. I had to cut the tube with a hacksaw and use my fingers to spread it around. This caused me to go through a lot of latex gloves and paper towels.





I had noticed when I was installing the wiring earlier in the project that someone had removed all but one of the steering column plate bolts. I took the one bolt and tested all of the holes and they were not stripped out. I have no idea why someone would have left them out, or why they were even taken out. I've owned this car for 22 years and my father used it as a loaner car for his dealership for years before that and I don't recall a reason as to why this would be this way. I had a lot of trouble finding out what kind of bolt was in the firewall. I kept trying to match it up to a body bolt and even resorted to measuring the thread pitch with a caliper. Eventually I found that it was a sheet metal bolt. I was able to find the correct size and order them online.





A while back the tire shop told me my wheels were bent so I ordered new 8" rally wheels. I would like to have had 3.5" backspacing and or 9" wheels, but I could only find those in custom made applications, which were too expensive. I ordered a new set of Wheel Vintiques' regular 8" Corvette rallies with 4" backspacing and trim rings. I should be able to reuse the center caps. These wheels are not hub-centric like the old ones but the lugnuts are cone shaped, so they will keep the wheels centered.





After getting the heater box reinstalled I tested it with a garden hose and then fortunately had a few good days of rain. I was really let down to find that though the leak was much smaller than before, there was still water coming into the floorboard. I knew that the top of the box was sealed well, and that the water could be coming in from anywhere and running around the edges of the box. Also, there were some internal seals within the heater box I had tried to seal after installing it by reaching my hand inside. There were just too many possible areas to try to troubleshoot and I knew I had to remove the heater box and start all over. I have a deadline of when I need to have the car finished and drivable again, so that was another layer of why this was so frustrating. Another issue is that the next several days were supposed to have rain and then tornado like weather was projected for the weekend. I was very fortunate in that my friend Brian recently went to work for himself after years of working for dealerships and he built his own shop. He let me bring my car over Friday night before the storms came in and work on it there during the bad weather. Saturday was a 12 hour day, followed up by more work on Sunday and Monday after work. I don't even have the words to describe how nice it was to be able to work in a garage for a change, especially as the storm raged outside.







I was able to remove the box without anything breaking, which I had been afraid of. The windo-weld came off very easily but the caulk strip was an absolute nightmare. It took a very, very long time to get it cleaned off of the box and when I thought that was bad it took even longer to get it off of the rubber gasket. After the gasket was clean we fixed some small holes and tears in the rubber gasket with super glue gel.





An absolute mess.





I took the box apart and slowly worked my way around, cleaning all the areas that had caulking.





The box comes apart into five pieces. It was only necessary for me to break it down into four parts. I thoroughly cleaned each piece and put sealer between the necessary mating surfaces as it went back together.





Last time I installed the box I used 3M's windo-weld and caulk strip. I used caulk strip on the front and back of the gasket and then sealed the outside of the box to the firewall with the windo-weld. Windo-weld is 3M part # 08609. This time I did a lot of reading on the internet and decided to go with 3M part # 08509 - Auto Bedding and Glazing Compound. It is a similar product, and both are used for sealing windows, but the 08509 is a different consistency. Both do not fully harden, but it seems the 08509 is a softer product. A lot of the descriptions online are similar or confusing so I called 3M. Unfortunately their representative is basically just reading from a script and doesn't really seem to have experience with the product so it was a bit of a gamble of what sealer to use.



While all of these parts were removed from the car I was able to get a better view on the exhaust manifold clearance to the frame on the passenger side, or the lack thereof. From this angle it was very clear to see that the manifold and pipe were resting on the frame. There wasn't enough room to trim the exhaust pipe because it would have caused the gasket to leak.







We ended up notching the frame. The area is actually the support for the lower control arm, which is welded to the frame and wraps under the frame as well, so fortunately this could be trimmed without any fear of compromising the structure of the frame or support.





Here is the final result.





I had to order the first tube of 08509 and ended up using it all to seal the pieces of the box back together and the lower part of the box to the firewall, but didn't have enough to permanently install the upper box. I removed the transmission dipstick tube and re-routed some of the wiring which gave more clearance for the box and allowed it to be placed directly against the firewall without any smearing of the sealer. I bolted the lower box in place and then bolted the top of the box in place to push the sealer against the firewall and allow it to setup. It really helped to have a second person guiding the box from inside the car. I ordered a new tube of 08509 and the next day came back and finished up installing the rest of the components and fully installed the top box with sealer. In the picture below you can see how the 08509 has squished out around the entire edge of the box. I used a very liberal amount of sealer because I really want this thing to seal.





In testing the sealer the next day it was still pliable and had not hardened. I believe if I ever need to remove it that the sealer will not give me any problems like the caulk strip did.





One area that I believe was giving me trouble before was a seam inside the heater box. Brian and I were both really amazed at how poorly this entire box was designed. From the way it mounts to the firewall to the way the pieces fit together it was destined to cause problems, and this is proved by talking to people who own these cars. All of these heater boxes leak and cause rust issues. The picture below is right below the windshield looking down into the air intake of the heater box on the cowl. Not only is this where all of the air comes in, it is where all of the water from the windshield and cowl is channeled. This area has four seams where different parts of the box comes together. Even the part of the box that mounts to the firewall is three separate pieces of the boxes that come together to fit up against the firewall. The hole below empties directly into the area shown in the picture above and the drain hole above (with the rubber flap over it) is supposed to let all of the water that goes into the hole below drain out. One problem, and I stress this is only one problem, is that the seam at the bottom of the hole shown below is right where all of the water drains down on top of, and that seam is placed inside the cab. If it leaks it dumps water right into the floorboard. And the seam is placed right in an area where the box is warped and does not seal well. I put a whole lot of sealer in this area. I have now brought the car back to my house and hope to test for leaks in the upcoming days. There is supposed to be rain this week so I'm hoping for some good hard rain and some very dry floorboards.

 

Wow! That's a lot of work!

This has to be my favorite photo of the bunch though.

 

Yeah, he looks like he's right at home, in there

 

Brian is a bit smaller than me, but in better shape. It's shameful how much easier he can crawl up in there. I sound like an old ship rolling over the swells of a storm.

 

With how big I am, I wouldn't even try, even if the hood were removed. I've come close to splitting the boys....

 

I had plans, and I needed The Caprice to be finished. I was running out of time and the weather was not cooperating at all. It was very cold and it rained a lot, and also on every Saturday for at least a month. I was very frustrated to find that although the heater box was not leaking anymore, there were other leaks in the same area. Exasperated, I broke down and bought a portable garage from Harbor Freight and, with April's help, erected it in the rain. It turned out to be a great thing, because not only did it rain a lot after that, the walls kept the freezing wind away and made it almost tolerable. I worked on the car every available waking moment I had. I didn't take many pictures because I was really in a hurry trying to get everything done. The following pictures represent several weeks of work and unfortunately only hit on some of the main highlights of a lot of the things I did.







Knowing the neighborhood would not be happy about the structure, I tried to hide it as best as I could. Also, I had to use the Suburban to ratchet strap the structure to so it wouldn't blow away in the strong winds and storms.





I had to take the fender off to access the leak. If I had only known this earlier it would have made working on the heater box much easier.





One of the leaks was coming from between two body panels. The sheetmetal on the firewall was pulled away from the other inner structure and there was some type of sealer between them. The sealer was in bad shape and it didn't appear to be seam sealer or something that came from the factory so my guess was this was a previous attempt to fix this issue from many years ago. After a lot of testing with the hose I determined this was one source of a leak. My father-in-law was down one weekend and he was able to run the hose while I had my head in the floorboard with a flashlight. I was able to get C-clamps and pliers and hammers and access the metal in order to flatten it back together. In the picture below I have flattened the top part of the lip but not yet the bottom part.





After getting all of that done, I chipped away a lot of the old and cracked seam sealer in other places as well. I cleaned everything, taped it off, painted it and then applied new seam sealer. I did this not only on the inside firewall area, but also on the outside. After all of this dried I found yet another leak while testing. In the picture below, right at the bottom of the A-pillar, you will notice a hole. This is not a rust hole. This is where, from the factory, when the panels didn't line up, they just filled the area with seam sealer. It was all brittle and cracked. The hole shown below is after I've chipped away all of the old seam sealer but before resealing it. After this photo I resealed the area with new seam sealer.





I also needed to install the new cruise control. I had prepared for this much earlier and left the wires taped up under the dash because I knew this project was down the road. Though I had the wiring figured out then and had labeled the wires well, I had forgotten some of technical side of how to wire it and it was challenging for a while, but with help form the forum I got it figured out. Taking the wheel off and putting it back on turned out to be a huge issue. Getting the stalk installed and the wires run wasn't as bad as I had feared, but the bearing and race for the steering column had become slightly bent and wouldn't go back together correctly, causing the steering wheel internals to not seat back in far enough. I fought it for what seemed like forever. It was freezing cold each night after work and dark, and between the seemingly endless leaks I kept finding and the the steering wheel problems and my deadline looming my frustration level reached higher points than any other time in the entire project. Fortunately, Brian was able to stop by one Saturday and help me get the steering column bearing situation fixed and I was able to get everything put back together. The only problem after that was that a small piece of the old plastic chipped and caused my horn to no longer work. I'll have to go remove that piece from the parts car when I get time so I can get my horn working again. The picture below shows the new stalk with cruise control.





At this point it sometimes felt like I have spent more time in this position than driving the car.





At long last it was time to install the new insulation and carpet. This is the only picture I have of the entire process. The insulation was not preformed and turned out to be very time consuming to get a correct fit. Also, the preformed carpet had a very thick, rubber backing, and though it is a quality piece that insulates well, it made the many test fits and trimming to be tedious and time consuming.

 

I had forgotten how bad the quality of the fit on these cars was from the factory. It made them lighter and easier to install and as long as the guy on the line with the instructions on where to put what sealer was on the ball they held up, but after 35-40 years that sealer dries out and fails. My '78 Bonneville had a leak at the A-pillar right where you found yours, I had forgotten all about it...

Carpet and deadener install is a pain even on cloudy spring and fall days, much less winter with zero sun and freezing wind and rain (it's been awful this last month). Still nice to see it coming together and you getting all those little items fixed.

 

This single area had, I think, leaks from 5 different areas that all came together. It's no wonder I've had such trouble getting it stopped.
How did your 73 Wagon ever turn out. It's been a while, but last I checked I didn't see any new updates on your website.

 

I'm still driving it, no real work has been needed or done. I got cancer early last year so my car work has been limited, I did manage to install a factory 80A alternator and I still have a new engine harness and starter I need to put on it.

 

Thanks for the update Vetteman. I am about to begin installing the insulation and carpet in my wagon. I am expecting to have a similar experience.

 

At my age, I have decided that the first step in ANY under-dash project is to REMOVE the front seats!
It make everything much easier and faster.

You're making great progress; keep it up!